Sparks - Games Workshop Group

Games Workshop Group (GAW) has already provided headline figures for its H126 results so its announcement today was more about the details. In the pre-close trading update, management indicated core revenue would be not less than £310m, licensing revenue would be not less than £16m and PBT would be not less than £135m. The reported figures came in at £316.1m, £16m and £140.8m so core revenue and PBT are ahead of those initial indications.

With fx a minor negative down the income statement, constant currency (cc) growth for revenue, gross profit and operating profit was a relatively consistent c 12% versus the prior period. The strength in core revenue with cc revenue growth of c 18% fed through to a good improvement in the core gross profit, which increased by c 21% at cc. Having previously indicated an expected tariff impact of £12m in FY26, H126 was negatively affected to the tune of £6m, so broadly in line with those initial expectations on a pro rata basis. However, management has done a good job of offsetting this hit with efficiencies.

A positive working capital inflow meant that GAW had a good improvement in operating cash generation relative to revenue. At the period end, the net cash position including leases was c £121m versus c £87m at the end of FY25. The improvement in cash generation and better financial position has enabled the declaration of its sixth dividend of the year, of 110p per share, which takes the year-to-date total to £4.85 per share from £4.20 per share at the same stage last year.